Secretary of State John Kerry has resumed bilateral negotiations with Russia over the Syrian civil war, despite Russia’s refusal to make the policy changes that Kerry demanded when he canceled talks in October.
“Of course we’re having bilateral conversations with [Russian Foreign Minister Sergei] Lavrov, with Russia rather,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters Tuesday. “We did start again reaching out to Russia because, let’s be honest, they’re an integral stakeholder.”
Toner acknowledged that the resumption of talks marks a withdrawal from Kerry’s stated plan of cutting off discussions until Russia stops backing Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s attacks on civilians, a policy he adopted after a cease-fire pact broke down.
“Look, at the time it was coming out of [the United Nations General Assembly] and the failed agreement of Lausanne and I think at the time the secretary, and I’m paraphrasing here, said until we see some kind of credible steps from Russia to reinstall confidence that there could be a cease-fire, then it’s not worth pursuing a bilateral option,” Toner told reporters. “We would consult multilaterally, so we did that. Again, that generated ideas, those consultations continue, but we’re just not there yet.”
Kerry issued a formal suspension of talks after pro-regime forces bombed a United Nations aid convoy that was entering the rebel-held stronghold of Aleppo, a major Syrian city, under the terms of a cease-fire deal he had negotiated with the Russians. That attack prompted Western leaders to accuse Russia of engaging in war crimes, even before Kerry suspended talks. But there were early signs that the suspension of negotiations might not stick, as Kerry delayed implementing the suspension and then initiated “multilateral” talks with Lavrov and other countries once the one-on-one process had ended.
Toner acknowledged the “concrete steps” Kerry demanded have not taken place. “To be honest, we’re still talking about some of the concrete steps they could take,” he said. “There’s not been a lot of concrete steps. The fighting’s only intensified.”
That prompted a reporter to suggest the State Department had lost “credibility” by failing to stick with Kerry’s original demand. “It undermines your ability to, one, hold that as leverage over them and two drive any concessions out of them because you always seem to go back to them in the same format,” the reporter observed.
Toner replied by walking back the idea that they had resumed one-on-one, formal negotiations with Lavrov. “As to whether we’re back in the bilateral mode with Russia, I don’t think we’re quite there yet,” he said. “We’re still, obviously, going to talk to them, but the agreement that was reached in Lausanne is not being implemented and that’s what we walked away from.”
